The Darkness
by mimeofquidditch
Summary: This is a one shot challange fic. It contains SLASH. You've been warned. It's kinda sad, and it defends people who like to be in the literal darkness. :) Some of it may seem odd. That's where the challange came into play. ENJOY! No flames.


A/N:The title has nothing to do with the hair band, The Darkness. Sorry to disappoint. I've decided to make this one a bit more serious then the last one. It's kind of a classic Harry/Draco, except for one minor change. I'm not going to tell you what it is here, because I want you to read it. :) It's homage to my favorite TFB club! I love you my fellow slash lovers..  
  
Prologue  
The dungeons are perfect the way they are. They're cold, dark, and damp. The others don't really understand what we like about them. They can all take their sunshine and fresh air and stick it up their arses, because they'll never understand what we've got, and they'll never understand us.  
  
In the dark, things aren't always as they seem. They can be more terrifying then you could ever imagine, or more stunning. In the dark, everything's what you make it. It can be your own personal paradise, or your own personal hell. The darkness can help you find yourself, or make you lose your mind. Darkness isn't for the weak of heart or mind. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll most certainly get lost...I was lost, but I won't be ever again.  
  
The darkness should never mix with the light, because once you turn on the light, you see everything for what it is. A chair is a chair, and the lamp in the corner is a lamp. But that's not all you lose once you've lost the darkness. When you're in the light, you are what you are; there's no changing what you are. I don't mean your hair, your skin, your eyes, or face. I mean what you really are.  
  
I "saw the light", and I'll tell you this. It certainly wasn't that gratifying epiphany that those dopes in self help magazines are always talking about. I was blinded, and I don't think I'll ever see straight again... ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Potter! Pay attention."  
  
Harry muttered angrily as Snape went on about essence of belladonna. He'd rather be almost anywhere else but in the dungeons right now. The only reason he was here, was that poisons and antidotes are essential study for Aurors, and he was determined to be one.  
Harry sighed, and glanced at Draco, who was taking notes idly...  
  
'I could do this with my eyes closed.' Draco thought as he put down his quill. And he did just that. He closed his eyes, and let the darkness envelope him. In the dark, he saw a Quidditch pitch. He was flying, in hot pursuit of the Golden Snitch and Potter was right next to him. He smirks as he reaches out his hand and wraps his fingers around the small, gold, metal ball. He can feel it fluttering madly as it tries to escape. He looks over at Potter, and seeing the crestfallen look in his eyes, the disappointment, the look of defeat; his smirk widens. They land, and Potter sulks off towards the livid Gryffindors. The Slytherins all storm the pitch, eager to congratulate their seeker, their champion, their hero... and a genuine smile graces his lips.  
  
Harry tilted his head. What's Malfoy smiling about?  
  
Draco's eyes flutter open, and he glances back at Potter. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen Malfoy look like that. It was...different. It made his face look less sharp, his eyes less cold...  
The smile lingers for a while with out Draco knowing. Harry looks slightly taken aback, and for a moment, Draco feels like he's still in his dream, still in the darkness...then Harry does something that confuses them both...He smiles back.  
It was a fleeting smile, which he quickly withdrew from, but it was there nonetheless. He can't take it back now; it's out there. Draco quickly turns away. A smirk or a sneer wouldn't change what happened. He'd smiled at the golden boy and the boy-who-lived, smiled back. He only hoped no one saw...  
  
Harry stared straight ahead. What had he been thinking? He [I]smiled[/I] at [I]Malfoy[/I]. The kind of smile he'd use on a friend, like Ron, or Neville. What if Malfoy held it over his head? What if he used it against him like only Draco Malfoy would? He only hoped no one saw...  
  
In the entrance hall after class  
  
"...And if you don't pass them, you couldn't be a Curse-Breaker, a dragon keeper, a Healer, a mediwizard, a broom maker, train security trolls, or-"  
  
"Why would I want to make brooms, or train security trolls?" Ron asked, cutting Hermione off in her tangent.  
  
"They can be very fulfilling jobs!" Hermione admonished him.  
  
"So you're going to train trolls then?"  
  
"Well...no, I don't really-"  
  
"Exactly." Ron said stubbornly, as he, Harry, and Hermione entered the Great Hall.  
  
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, but said nothing else as she took a seat next to Neville. Harry and Ron sat across and began to scoop food onto their plates.  
  
"Could you pass the pumpkin juice, Neville?"  
  
Neville nodded and passed the jug to Dean.  
  
"Thanks mate."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
Neville Longbottom wasn't a very complex subject. Not that he was dull, or stupid or anything. It was more like... there wasn't much to say, because there wasn't much known. When did you ever hear anyone say:  
  
"Hey, did you hear about what that Longbottom kid to so and so at lunch? He really worked him over!"  
  
or  
  
"Yeah, I heard she'd pregnant now! I know! It's so like him..."  
  
No, you would never. Because he didn't expose himself to that kind of stuff. People know him well enough to know that the rumor wouldn't be true, but they don't know much more. They know he's a bit of a klutz when he was nervous...and Snape made him nervous. A lot of things make him nervous.  
[I]Draco Malfoy[/I] makes him nervous. Harry'd said he was ten times better then Malfoy, but that didn't stop Malfoy from taunting and teasing Neville when ever the opportunity presented it's self. In fact...nowadays it seemed like Malfoy went out of his way to make him uncomfortable...  
  
Neville stared off into space until Hermione engaged him in conversation about Mooncalf dung.  
  
Draco Malfoy observed Potter briefly, and once he was sure he hadn't told his followers about the...incident, he looked away from him. Instead he watched Longbottom. He was talking to the Mudblood about something Draco decided couldn't be important, because Neville looked distracted. He rested his head on one hand and kept himself propped up on an elbow, looking aristocratically bored, as always.  
Longbottom hadn't been this interesting last year, had he? What was so interesting about him now? He didn't know anything about the Gryffindor; that's what.  
Everyone knows practically every detail about Potter's life. You could read it in the news paper, in magazines, hear gossip in the halls, and even read about him on the walls in the toilets. But he never heard anything about Neville Longbottom. Sure there was the occasional "...Melted another caldron..." or "...was with Potter and Weasley when...", but that was about it.  
Neville Longbottom was an enigma wrapped in a mystery. He [I]hated[/I] that he didn't know half of his life story. That's why he'd been watching him, bothering him, doing anything to try to get [I]something[/I] out of the other boy. But he wouldn't budge.  
  
"...an't believe you have detention with Potter tonight. He started it." Pansy protested loudly, abruptly pulling him out of his trance.  
  
"Huh? I mean, yeah, I know. But the golden boy gets away with practically everything." Draco said distract idly.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry knocked on the door and Malfoy shoved him over, so he was standing in front of the door when the professor opened her door. "Hey!"  
  
"What?" Malfoy sneered, trying to look innocent.  
  
The professor sighed and ushered them both in, and was about to put up tomorrows lesson plan with her wand on the blackboard before they started when she heard a small scuffle behind her.  
  
"I am sick and tired of all this bickering!" McGonagall cried out, tapping her wand on the blackboard, her nostrils flared. "I want all of these desks polished properly by the time I get back. Am I understood?"  
  
"Yes Professor." The two boys said in unison.  
  
"Then get to work. I will be in to check on your progress in an hour."  
  
They nodded and Harry picked up a rag. The professor closed the door behind her.  
  
"Better get to work, Potter." Malfoy sneered, tossing a bottle of desk polish at Harry.  
  
Harry caught it, and then tossed it back at Malfoy "You've got to clean too."  
  
Draco scoffed "Malfoy's don't do servant work. You, on the other hand, seem to be built for it." He tossed the polish back at Harry roughly.  
  
Harry glared at Malfoy and walked over to him. He shoved the polish into his hands. "Do it, or else."  
  
"Or. Else. What?" He sneered hotly; his eyes narrow slits, "Are you going to make me do it?"  
  
"Yes." He hissed angrily, glaring at him menacingly.  
  
An angry pink tinge came to Draco's cheeks, "Fine!" he said angrily, snatching the bottle from Harry's hand.  
  
Forty-five minutes later, Harry had done twelve desks, and Draco had done two. The blond Slytherin was sitting on the ground, lounging with his back against the teachers desk. His eyes were closed and he had that smile on again. When Harry caught sight of him, he seethed. What was he doing? What was he thinking...  
  
Draco won the fight yesterday at lunch. Potter was on the ground, red with embarrassment this time...instead of him. His gaggles of fans were disenchanted with him. Now they looked up to Draco; worshiped him like they used to worship Potter. He had the fans and no one could give a rats ass about Potter. And the Mudblood and Weasel sulk up to him, crawling on hands and knees. He tells them that he's glad they've finally realized their place; bowing down to him, crawling around in filth. The darkness was always the perfect place to be...  
  
Malfoy mutters incoherently, all Harry can decipher is "...Mudblood ... Weasel...bow down...filth..."  
  
*#*!POW!*#*  
  
"Arg!" Draco falls back on to the ground. Blood spurts out of his nose, leaving a crimson trail along his alabaster skin.  
  
*#*!POW!*#*  
  
Another hit to the side of his face. What was going on? He opened his eyes and saw a livid Potter straddling him. Draco writhes and squirms under him, trying to break free, but it's not use. Potter has a death grip on him and his arms are pinned down by Potters knees. There's nothing he can do. He closes his eyes, and retreats to the darkness again...  
  
After the second hit, Malfoy stops moving. He didn't hit him that hard, did he?  
  
"Malfoy?"  
  
Nothing.  
  
"MALFOY?"  
  
Still nothing. His eyes are closed and his nose has stopped bleeding. Suddenly, a smile appears on Malfoy's lips. The same smile from Potions this morning. At first, Harry thinks Malfoy was just messing with him. Trying to scare him by making him think he'd seriously hurt him. But then, wouldn't he be smirking? This was a genuine, [I]happy[/I] smile.  
  
Draco mumbles "Neville..."  
  
Now Harry is more then confused as he watches Malfoy sigh happily and his smile widen...  
  
Draco and Neville are in Greenhouse three. Draco sits on a table as Neville prunes something and tells Draco about his day. Neville looks up at him and grins. "You're the only one I can talk to Malfoy...Malfoy...Malfoy..." Draco looks confused. Why is Neville repeating his name? Oh well...it sounds nice.  
  
"Malfoy!"  
  
Draco opens his eyes with a happy dazed look on his face.  
  
"What's [I]wrong[/I] with you?" Harry asked. Worry eating at his insides.  
  
"Nothing Neville." Draco responded sleepily.  
  
"Maybe I hit him harder then I thought..." Harry muttered.  
  
Suddenly, Harry's taken by surprise as Draco loops an arm around his neck, pulling him closer. Malfoy's eyes are soft, and warm. Not the icy cold steel color they usually are. They're like a warm, glowing silver liquid...like a pensive. He's still smiling. Harry is unable to speak and does not resist as Draco pulls him closer...and closer. Their lips touch and Harry's eyes are wide...  
  
Draco pushes him gently against the side of the shed, kissing him softly. Neville begins to kiss him back, his green eyes fluttering close. Green eyes? That's not right...  
  
Draco's eyes come into focus and his heart stops. Potters on top of him...kissing him. Draco shouts and shoves Potter off of him.  
  
"What the bloody hell do you think your doing?!" Draco yells at him. Harry, sprawled on the floor just gapes as Malfoy storms out of the room, shoving a bewildered McGonagall out of his way to the cold, dark dungeons...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Three weeks later.  
  
"Draco's been quiet lately...do you think he's ill, or something?"  
  
"I duno." Crabbe shruged.  
  
"You're supposed to be his friend." Pansy huffs indignantly.  
  
Goyle just picks up another apple out of the fruit bowl.  
  
Draco watches the Gryffindor table. Staring at a sixth year boy...  
  
"Why is Malfoy looking at you like that Harry?" Neville asked, looking slightly worried.  
  
Harry looks over at the boy next to him and shrugs, then turns back to pushing his food around on his plate.  
  
"Harry, you've got to eat something..." Hermione said sounding very maternal "You didn't eat breakfast, and-"  
  
"Fine!" Harry snapped irritably, shoving a piece of cantaloupe in his mouth "Happy?"  
  
Hermione swallowed and nodded. She didn't want Harry angry with her, and he seemed even more irritable now then he did last year.  
  
Harry looked guilty, "Sorry."  
  
"That's okay." Hermione smiled.  
  
Care of Magical Creatures class.  
  
"Th' Re'em 's blood is gives th' drinker immense stren'th, but ets har'ly ever found on th' open market these days, due to high deman'."  
  
Hagrid went on to display a golden-furred giant ox-like creature. Some of the students gasped at the mere size of the beast. It made Hagrid look like a normal sized person standing next to a Great Dane.  
  
As the rest of the students crowded towards the beast, Harry and Draco hung back. Harry glanced nervously at Malfoy, and Malfoy ignored Harry.  
  
"You can't avid me forever..." Harry said quietly.  
  
"I can try!" Malfoy spat angrily.  
  
Harry held his hands up in defense. "Calm down. All I'm asking is for you to meet me some where so we can tal-"  
  
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Draco said heatedly "I don't want to be alone with you anywhere! How do I know your not going to...going to..." He looked around to check if anyone was watching, then continued in a low hiss "Try to kiss me again!"  
  
"You kissed me!" Harry nearly shouted.  
  
"Shhh!" Draco said, looking around in a panic "I'll meet you okay? Just shut up!"  
  
"Fine. Tonight at 7:00 By green house-"  
  
"Three."  
  
"Okay then...three..." Harry said, looking slightly confused.  
  
7:16 p.m. Greenhouse Two.  
  
Harry paced up and down the isles of untrimmed foliage and fertilizers. Where was Malfoy? He should have known that he would have backed out at the last minute. Harry stalked back towards the castle, muttering angrily. He was half way to the entrance, when something or someone clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into the shadows, towards the forest. Just before he disappeared into the darkness, he managed to free himself briefly from the hand over his mouth, and shout out, "HELP!"  
  
Fifteen minutes earlier.  
  
Draco slowly trudged towards greenhouse three and opened the door. He saw a shadowy figure in the corner. It looked like the person was potting something, and Draco sighed. [I]Potter is potting...how appropriate. Potty Potter...[/I] he sniggered silently at his joke, and the figure whipped its head up.  
  
"Don't tell me you invited me here to garden." He sneered.  
  
"I-I didn't in-invite you at all." The figure stuttered.  
  
Draco knew that voice, and it wasn't Potters.  
  
"Ne-Longbottom? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Wh-what does it look like?" Neville shot back bravely.  
  
"It looks like your potting something." Draco said simply, walking towards the other boy. Neville shook slightly as Draco came up to stand next to him. The Slytherin observed the clods of dirt and fertilizer, the pot, the plant, and the watering can. "Yes, I think that's what your doing." He said with finality, looking up at Neville.  
  
Neville said nothing, he just stared.  
  
"You don't have to stop because of me, you know." Draco said, sitting on a table across from the Gryffindor. "What are you planting?"  
  
Neville snapped out of his trance, cast Malfoy a curious glance. Then realizing that the boy wasn't going to leave, he answered "Alihotsy."  
  
"Doesn't eating the leaves cause hysteria?" Draco asked, tilting his head.  
  
Neville returned to his work "Yes."  
  
"Then why plant it."  
  
The Gryffindor shrugged "It's nice looking. Besides, you don't go around eating leaves off of things with out knowing what it is, do you?"  
  
Draco looked amused "I suppose I don't."  
  
Neville started when someone stormed by the greenhouse, muttering angrily, and knocked over the pot he was using. Draco hopped down and helped him pick up the peaces. He knew that they he could just repair the pot with magic, and it would be like nothing happened. But then, he wouldn't have...  
  
Neville's head snapped up when Malfoy's hand was on top of his. He looked fearful, and Draco looked into his eyes. They were in the darkness again...but his eyes were open, and everything was more real then before. He quickly closed the space between them, and kissed the boy in front of him. Neville was too shocked to move, but Draco was just glad the other boy didn't push him away. He placed a hand on his cheek, and just as the Gryffindor began to kiss him back, they heard a cry of "HELP!" and broke apart.  
  
"What was that?" Neville asked, darting to the door.  
  
Draco silently cursed. "An owl." He offered shortly.  
  
Neville rolled his eyes and walked out the door. "We've got to help them."  
  
"No, we don't." Draco said stubbornly.  
  
"Fine, I'll go by myself coward." Neville said irritably.  
  
"Who are [I]you[/I] calling a coward?" Draco spat.  
  
Neville sighed in exasperation and headed towards where the noise came from. The..  
  
"Forest? You're going in there?"  
  
Neville looked slightly doubtful, but he nodded. "Fine, then I'm going with you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Draco shrugged "If you don't want help, then I could just..." he turned to leave.  
  
"No!"  
  
Draco smirked "Let's go then."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The figure tossed Harry roughly to the floor, and he looked up and glared.  
  
"Ah, well, look at what we've got here!" Bellatrix snapped, her eyes locked on his. "You shouldn't be wandering alone like that, Potter. There are some pretty dodgy characters out and about in this area."  
  
"Now, now, Bella...don't [I]mock[/I] the boy." A voice sneered behind her. Lucius Malfoy came into view, "It isn't polite. And Potter here is our guest."  
  
"Our guest of honor." A voice corrected him from the shadows. Lestrange and Malfoy whipped around and bowed down low. "Master..." they murmerd.  
  
Harry gulped but his throat was dry. He knew this was coming sooner or later. The year was nearly over and Voldemort had been relatively quite so far.  
  
"Don't look so nervous, Potter. Why do you assume the worst?" Voldemort asked in mock hurt as he glided out of the shadows.  
  
"Maybe because you've wanted my dead sense I was born." Harry spat.  
  
"Sense before you were born." Voldemort corrected him.  
  
Harry glared.  
  
In the bushes yards away.  
  
"Th-that's.." Neville stuttered in a voice barely more then a whisper.  
  
"The dark lord." Draco finished for him.  
  
"And your father..." The Gryffindor said slowly, watching Malfoy warily.  
  
Draco's eyes darted over to Neville, then back to the clearing. "I didn't know about any of this."  
  
"We've got to get help, but what if they hurt Harry while we're gone?"  
  
"Who cares?" Draco said lazily. He was far more interesting in Voldemort, he'd never seen him before...and he was nothing like he'd imagined.  
  
"I do!" Neville hissed indignantly.  
  
"Fine, what do you suggest we do?" He asked shortly.  
  
"I don't know. We've just got to distract them long enough for one of us to get help..." he said desperately "I could run out there and-"  
  
"Get killed." Draco said sullenly "Or I could go out there and stall."  
  
"Won't you get killed?"  
  
"It's less likely then you getting killed. You can run back to the castle and get a teacher or someone in the mean time."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Do you want to help Potter or not?" Draco asked irritably. He couldn't believe he was doing this.  
  
Neville nodded glumly. "Then go. I'll be okay." And Draco smiled.  
  
Neville quickly leaned across and kissed him, then hurried off towards the castle, looking back once.  
  
Draco watched him go, and then stood and walked towards the clearing.  
  
"Oh, good!" he said loudly "You found him."  
  
"Draco?" His father asked, looking utterly perplexed. Very un-Malfoy- like.  
  
"Yes father. It was I who tricked Potter into coming out of bounds in hope that something terrible would happen to him." He smirked "Aren't you proud?"  
  
"This is your son, Lucius?" Voldemort asked, quirking the area where an eyebrow might have been.  
  
"Yes, sire." Malfoy said, bowing.  
  
Voldemort nodded and turned back to Draco "You led him out in to the night in hopes that something...bad would happen to him?"  
  
"It was a long shot." Draco shrugged.  
  
Malfoy Sr. glared at his son. Such disrespect would not go unpunished by his lord. The boy would learn soon enough.  
  
Voldemort laughed, his high-pitched, evil laugh. "Very well then. I suppose you've gotten your wish. I believe this counts as something very bad. Don't you think Harry?"  
  
Harry looked up at Malfoy disbelievingly. Why was he lying like that? He knew Malfoy lied all the time, but what was the point? Was he trying to get on Voldemorts good side? The bastard...  
  
"Yeah, I'd call this bad. But his story isn't true."  
  
Draco's jaw clenched and Voldemort frowned. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Draco led me out here because he's my boyfriend. We were going to meet in greenhouse two, but he was late."  
  
Draco snorted "It was greenhouse three-" he stopped abruptly, then glared at Potter again "And it was a trick you buffoon."  
  
"Right."  
  
"It was!"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Why does it even matter? You're going to die anyway!"  
  
Harry glared and Voldemort watched. Clearly amused.  
  
"I hate everything about you. Why do I love you?" Harry said, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.  
  
"Now you're taking this way too far." Draco said shortly, crossing his arms.  
  
"He's right you know," The Dark Lord drawled, "As amusing as this has been, it's time for you to die. I've waited long enough..." He raised his wand.  
  
"Don't kill him." Draco said simply. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a twinkle of triumph in Draco's cold eyes.  
  
"What?" Voldemort asked, his wand lowering slightly.  
  
"I said don't kill him."  
  
"Why not?" Voldemort asked, rolling his eyes "Another lover's squabble?"  
  
"No...because Dumbledore's right there and I think he wants to stop you." Draco smirked.  
  
Voldemort whipped around to see a livid looking Albus Dumbledore staring him straight in the eye. "How...?"  
  
Neville came out of the shadows and smiled triumphantly at Draco. Voldemort growled and quickly whipped around, pointing his wand and the standing Gryffindor. In a flash of light, everything went dark. Draco cried out, but Neville never heard him. It was too late; the light had killed him.  
  
I never liked the light. It hurt my eyes and killed my dreams. People say it's good and pure, but all it brought to me is death and despair. I prefer the darkness, because in there, I know where I stand. In the darkness I can still almost see him, almost feel his lips against mine. 


End file.
